Apple, Yahoo! Tie-Up: Examining the Possibilities (Update 2)

Written by: Chris Ciaccia04/10/13 - 2:25 PM EDT

Tickers in this article:
AAPL GOOG YHOO

Updated from 11:25 a.m. EDT to provide investor comments regarding the tie-up in the third paragraph.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Since taking over Yahoo!, CEO Marissa Mayer has made major changes to both corporate culture and the company's line of thinking. A closer relationship with Apple would continue to change the perception of Yahoo! as a force in mobile.

Citing a person familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journalreports Mayer has met with Apple to discuss new ways to collaborate. Yahoo! already provides data to the iPhone, including the Stocks App and the Weather app that come pre-installed on the iPhone and iPad, utilizing Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo!'s weather, respectively. Yahoo! also provides data to Siri, Apple's voice assistant.

Mayer has said collaboration is the way to go, especially when it comes to mobile and making money from it, since Yahoo! does not have a mobile operating system. On the company's fourth-quarter conference call, Mayer noted Yahoo! intends to do more, and a relationship with Apple could be just the start. "Yahoo! needs this," said one hedge fund analyst who declined to be named. "Apple can live with or without it." The analyst is long Apple shares.

"With any platform shift, revenue always follows users, and Mobile will be no different," Mayer said on the call. "Smart monetization of this usage is inevitable. We intend to participate fully in the innovation and experimentation required to make Mobile a material part of our business."

Yahoo! has countless Web properties and content it could load on Apple's iOS platform, including more content from Yahoo! News, or perhaps Yahoo! Answers, which Mayer in the past has said is "an undervalued property," talking about the app participation there and compelling number of page views.

Perhaps a recent acquisition by Yahoo! could be the key to a bigger relationship with Apple. Yahoo! recently acquiredSummly, a mobile product company designed to get information faster, easier and more concisely to users. Summly could be Yahoo!'s hope to circumvent Google in Apple, especially if it's tied up with Siri.

Ironfire Capital co-founder and Real Money contributor Eric Jackson believes a potential tie-up would start with Siri. "There's so much content that Yahoo can help deliver to Siri," Jackson said in an email. He noted as part of Yahoo!'s acquisition of Summly, it included intellectual property rights from SRI International, which was "the birthplace of Siri and Nuance. Seems like Yahoo will be able to use this if they can work more closely with Apple on Siri." Jackson is long both Yahoo! and Apple shares.

For now, Apple has tried to move away from Google services on its iOS devices, including the botched Apple Maps, but Google still remains an important part of iPhones and iPads, with YouTube, Google Maps, and other properties. Apple has said in the past it will not compromise on quality for its users, and Google's products still remain best in class, at least for now.

Apple is increasingly trying to focus on web services, as it looks to beef up its iOS offerings. Jackson noted that Apple has lagged competitors, including Google, Facebook and Twitter when it comes to web services. "I believe web services will be an increasingly important battleground in phones going forward."